Like Riding A Bicycle
by writetherest
Summary: "I've never taught someone how to ride a bike before, so cut some slack, okay?" Emma huffs at Regina, who merely rolls her eyes. / from a prompt on Tumblr: Emma teaches Regina and Henry to ride a bicycle. pre-Swan Queen, Emma/Henry/Regina family times.


**Author's Note: **Written for the follow prompts on Tumblr:

**Swan Queen fluff: Emma helps Henry (and Regina, as well) learn to ride a bike**  
** Regina/Emma - Emma teaches Regina how to rollerblade or ride a bike**

Many, many thanks to my beta Lola for making sure this wasn't _too_ fluffy. Wouldn't want to give anyone cavities. Enjoy!

* * *

The one (and probably only) thing that Emma and Regina agree on is the fact that they want Henry to have as normal a childhood as possible, even in the middle of a magical war for control of Storybrooke. And even if that means teaching him (and his mother who apparently also never learned) how to ride a bicycle in the gymnasium of the now deserted high school in the middle of the night because it's the only time and place that is safe for such an endeavor, Emma is prepared to do just that.

It might not be a Hallmark-worthy scene, but it probably wouldn't be even if they weren't in the middle of said war. Still, it's what Henry wants ("I might need to escape and isn't a bike faster than trying to run?") and since he'd woken from the dead, Emma is ready to give him pretty much anything he asks for. She'd worry that this makes her a bad mother, but Regina's been acting the same way, so she figures it's okay.

She glances around the gymnasium, which is illuminated only by the backup lights from the generator. They don't give off very much light, which probably isn't helpful when learning to ride a bike, but it is helpful when trying not to draw attention to yourself for fear of attack. Besides, if Henry can learn to ride a bike in the dark, he'll be ready for any situation, which has sort of become their motto as of late.

She tenses at the sound of the gym door opening, a habit that she's picked up in the past few days, but relaxes when she hears the staccato tapping that can only come from one person. And of course she'd wear heels tonight.

"Seriously, Regina?" Emma rolls her eyes and then frowns even more as she takes in the sight of Henry waddling his way across the gym. At least Regina can move in her heels. "The kid can barely walk in all that padding. How do you expect him to even get on a bicycle, let alone learn to ride one?"

"Just because I value my son's safety -"

"There's valuing his safety, and there's turning him into John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. And this right here," Emma points a finger over at Henry, moving it up and down to make her point, "totally John Travolta."

"Miss Swan -"

"Keep the helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads, kid." Emma tells Henry, ignoring Regina completely. "Lose everything else."

With a sigh of relief, Henry begins tugging off the extra padding, starting with the shin guards.

Emma then turns her attention to Regina. "Heels? You're gonna learn to ride a bike in heels?"

Regina scoffs. "I am not going to be partaking of these lessons, Miss Swan. I am merely here to be sure you don't get Henry killed."

"But Mom," Henry whines from his place of the gym floor, struggling with pulling off the driving gloves and knowing exactly what he's doing by invoking the word 'mom', "you said you'd learn too!"

"Henry -" Regina tries, but it's already obvious that this is a battle she's going to lose. Emma's just thankful that they're all on the same side in the greater battle that's raging, otherwise Regina would've been defeated long ago. Not that she cares about Regina one way or the other, except as she pertains to Henry. Not at all.

"Okay, kid, let's teach you to ride a bike." Emma smiles when he's finally freed himself of the excess padding. Henry's eyes light up as he takes in the bike that she'd 'borrowed' from the little shop on Main Street on the way over here. Regina isn't the only one with keys to places in this town, although she's sure that her set isn't nearly as extensive as the mayor's.

"Cool! What do I do first?"

"Well, first, I want you to take the bike and just walk it around the gym a time or two. Get used to the weight of it." Emma says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world and she hadn't spent the hours before she'd left to come here combing YouTube for how to videos and reading wiki articles on how to teach someone to ride a bike.

"Okay, Emma!" Henry says, taking Emma's words as gold and grabbing the bike to begin his walk around.

Regina scoffs. "Walking the bike around? Really, Miss Swan?"

"I've never taught someone how to ride a bike before, so cut some slack, okay?" Emma huffs at Regina, who merely rolls her eyes.

"And who taught you to ride one?"

It's a question that Emma's been hoping to avoid, so of course Regina would ask it. She thinks back to the day she'd 'learned' how to ride a bike. She was seven when she'd found a bike left unchained outside of her foster home. Bikes weren't exactly something that were easy to come by, at least not for a kid in the system, but bikes had wheels and wheels meant freedom, so Emma had grabbed her chance.

She still remembers the way the bike had wobbled as she'd pedaled faster and faster down the sidewalk. She remembers the feeling of freedom as the wind had pushed her curls back and she'd thought for one beautiful, glorious second that she could finally escape and find her real parents. And she remembers vividly the crash that came next, the scraping of the bike and her skin on the cement sidewalk and the slickness of the blood that flowed from her knees and elbows and mouth. She doesn't know how long she'd laid there, bleeding and crying, but she remembers her foster brother at the time - Tommy, she thinks, or maybe Jimmy - picking her up and carrying her back to the house.

"Next time, learn to use the brakes, kid." He'd told her as he cleaned her up and inspected the lovely gap where her front teeth used to be.

Emma shakes the memory away, her tongue swiping over her front teeth as though to reassure herself that they were still there. "Just picked it up on my own, I guess." She mutters.

"Oh, well, isn't that perfect?" Regina hisses back, but can say no more as Henry approaches, having already walked the bike the whole way around the gym.

"Good job, Henry." Emma praises, maybe unnecessarily, but he's her kid and if she wants to praise him for walking around with a bike, she will, damn it.

"Now what?" Henry is so eager, so much like a child in that moment, that it makes her heart ache for the innocence that he's already lost.

"Now, I want you to walk around the room again, but this time, I want you to be straddling the bike, like this." Emma shows him on her own bicycle and Henry quickly copies her movements. "No sitting on the seat yet, just standing and walking, okay?"

"Sure thing, Emma!" Henry calls as he takes off around the gym again.

Regina opens her mouth but Emma cuts her off. "Not one damn word. I am doing this my way, and you are going to let me, because Henry wants to learn and I'm the only one of us that knows how. Do you understand me?"

Regina just glares at her for long minutes, but Emma figures it's a win because she hasn't ended up as a toad yet.

"Was that good, Emma?" Henry asks as he comes to a stop in front of his mothers.

Emma offers him another encouraging smile, although she hasn't been paying attention to him at all. "Perfect, Henry. Now, I want you to get up on the seat, but keep your feet on the ground. Then I want you to practice lifting your feet and balancing for a few seconds before you put them back on the ground. Do that a couple times, okay?"

"Is this really necessary, Miss Swan?" Regina drawls, watching as Henry does exactly as Emma instructed without any question or reservation. He trusts her implicitly, while his default setting when it comes to Regina is suspicion, which still stings no matter how much she may deserve it.

"You're the one that had him wrapped up in bubble wrap when he got here. If he just hops on the bike and tries to take off, he's going to wreck and hurt himself. Is that what you want?"

"You know it isn't!" Regina frowns, staring into Emma's eyes almost as though looking for confirmation that Emma does indeed know that Regina never wants to see Henry hurt.

Emma lowers her eyelids slowly in acknowledgement. "Then let me do this my way."

She hears Regina grumbling under her breath, but Emma chooses to ignore it. This is the first real parental duty she's been given (except for the whole saving the kid with true love's kiss thing, but she tries not to think about that) and she's determined to do it right.

"Okay, I think you're ready to give it a go."

"Awesome!"

Emma moves beside him, reaching out to steady the bicycle. Henry rolls his eyes in a perfect imitation of Regina that actually brings a smile to Emma's face. "I'm not a baby, Emma. I can do it myself."

"I know you're not a baby, kid." Emma assures, the weight of those words settling over her. He was a baby, once, when she gave him up. But now he is most certainly not. "But it's still your first time, so just go with it, okay?"

Henry frowns, but nods. "Fine, fine."

"Okay, you start pedaling and then once you get going, I want you to try to use the brake pedals. You just pedal backwards and it'll stop you."

"What about these brakes?" Henry pumps the hand brakes.

"Those are better to use," Emma nods, "but they're also more touchy. Work the pedal brakes first, then we'll get to them. And remember, once you brake, you gotta put your feet down."

Henry's eyes roll again and this time it isn't as cute. "I got it, Emma."

"Hey, I just wanna make sure your keep all your teeth, okay?"

Regina makes a strangled noise at that and Emma quickly turns to her. "Put the mouth guard down."

Regina huffs, but tightens her hand around something that it is obvious she doesn't want them to see. Emma smirks.

"Alright, Henry, let's do this."

Emma holds carefully to one of the handle bars, trying to keep him steady without doing all the work for him. He starts off wobbling all over the place and Emma is well aware that Regina is probably holding her breath.

"You're doing good, Henry. Just work on that balance we talked about and keep your pedaling smooth and your steering steady. Good, now try to brake."

Henry hits the back brakes a little too hard and nearly goes catapulting over the front of the bike, but Emma manages to catch him. She gives him a wink and then encourages him to start pedaling again. They continue this way, pedaling and braking, until Emma feels certain that Henry is ready to go on his own.

Only then does she carefully let go of the handle bar and watch as he takes off on his own. He still hasn't quite mastered a straight line yet - more like a drunken wobble from side to side at this point - but he's staying upright and doing it on his own. She can't stop the feeling of pride or the little shout of joy and clapping that bubbles up from within her, and when she glances over at Regina through the dim lighting she sees the same look on her face.

"Hey!" Henry calls when he realizes that Emma isn't beside him anymore, "I'm doing it! I'm riding a bike by myself!"

He manages to come to a sort of jerky stop and hops off, letting the bike drop to the floor and running over to hug Emma tightly. "I rode on my own!"

"I know, kid, you were great!" Emma swings him around, then sets him back on the ground and gives him a careful nudge towards Regina.

"Did you see, Mom?" He asks as he walks over to her with more caution than with Emma. At least he's still calling her mom.

"I did." Regina says and if her eyes are glowing a little, Emma chalks it up to the low lighting and not tears. "You were marvelous, Henry!"

He hugs her, then, and for a few seconds she clings to him as though afraid to let him go, before she finally forces herself to relinquish him. "Go on, go ride some more."

Henry grins. "It's your turn now, Mom. Emma can teach you just like she taught me."

"Ready for your lesson, your majesty?" Emma says, coming forward with her own bicycle.

Regina waits until Henry is back on his bike before she snatches the bicycle from Emma's grip with a growl. "If you could 'pick it up on my own', then I certainly can too. I do not need your assistance."

"Whatever you say."

Emma has to bite back the urge to hum the Wicked Witch of the West theme when she sees Regina perched on the bicycle. But she can't quite tamp down on all her urges and finds herself snarking "it's all about balance - you know, just like riding on your broom" at Regina. The former queen shoots her a look that could probably kill if it had any of Regina's magic behind it. Emma swallows hard.

Regina puts her high heels on the pedals, pushes forward, and promptly the bike begins to fall to one side. Emma rushes over and manages to catch her by the waist, keeping her upright.

"Still think you don't need my help?" Emma whispers in Regina's ear, and if her voice is an octave lower than usual, it's only because it's the middle of the night and she's tired.

"Kindly remove your hands from me, Miss Swan." Regina tries to sound commanding, but there's a hitch in her voice that ruins the effect.

"Okay," Emma relents, pulling her hands away, "but remember, it really is about the balance. And I still think high heels are a mistake. You can borrow my shoes, if you'd like."

Regina takes in the ratty Chucks that Emma is wearing and lets her know exactly what she thinks of that idea with a single look. Emma just shrugs. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you when you've got blisters or a broken heel tomorrow."

With a grunt of annoyance, Regina places her feet back on the pedals and begins working them. She manages to stay upright and, in fact, rides as though she's been doing it forever. Emma's eyes narrow. Had Regina lied about not knowing how to ride?

But then Regina turns the bike back towards her, ready to gloat, she's sure, and Emma sees it. Regina's lips are moving just the littlest bit. It's nearly impossible to pick up in the dim light, but Emma does and she shakes her head as Regina comes to a perfect stop in front of her.

"Now, what were you saying about me needing your help, Miss Swan?" Regina crows at her.

"Turns out I was wrong, your majesty." Emma offers with a small bow. "You didn't need me at all. Just your magic."

Regina's eyes widen at the accusation. "What?"

"Hey, it's okay." Emma assures. "Riding a bike is really hard. I mean, I totally understand why you'd need to use magic to do it instead of, oh, I don't know, actually taking the time to learn."

"How dare you!" Regina tries to bluster, but it falls short.

"It's okay to not be perfect at everything on the first try, you know." Emma says and the understanding in her voice makes Regina want to punch her.

"So what, I'm supposed to let you walk around holding on to my bike like I'm a five year old?" Regina spits.

Emma just shrugs. "It worked for Henry."

Regina glances across the gymnasium to where Henry is happily riding back and forth. He still has moments where he has to throw his feet down to steady himself, but for the most part, he looks like he's been riding for years, instead of just minutes.

"Oh, fine." Regina growls and Emma does her best to quash the triumphant smile that wants to spread across her face.

"It actually shouldn't be that hard for you to learn this." Emma says as she takes hold of one of the handle bars, helping to keep the bike steady as Regina puts her feet on the pedals. "You have really great posture, which actually helps with the balance. Just work on being smooth and steady with your pedaling. Which would be easier if you weren't in heels, but…"

"Oh for the love of -" Regina snaps and Emma watches as Regina's Jimmy Choos are suddenly replaced with a pair of Nike sneakers. "Is that better for you, Miss Swan?"

And the sight of Regina in sneakers is so novel that Emma can only grin. "Yeah."

Regina purposely pedals hard, so that Emma will have to work to keep up and for a few seconds, the sheriff considers just letting go and allowing the queen to fall. But she keeps her grip on the handle instead, until she is sure that Regina doesn't need her anymore.

Then, just like with Henry, she lets go. Regina continues moving forward and Emma wonders for a moment if she isn't using magic again, until she sees Regina glance back at her, realizing she is no longer beside her.

The look that crosses her face then, for the briefest of moments, is without a doubt the most beautiful thing Emma has ever seen. Regina's face transforms into a look of pure joy and accomplishment. It's the same look of childlike innocence that was on Henry's face when he'd realized he was riding on his own, and Emma wishes that she could take a picture or something to remember this Regina always.

But just as quickly as the look comes over her, it disappears, trapped behind walls that Regina is quick to erect.

"Mom! That was awesome! You did it!" Henry exclaims, jumping up and down and clapping and she sees the look surface again, although slightly more guarded, as Regina looks at Henry.

Regina climbs off the bicycle and the two embrace triumphantly for a few moments until Henry wiggles away and climbs back on his bike. "Come on, Mom!" He calls and Emma watches as Regina happily complies, the two of them riding around in circles together, nearly missing each other more often than not.

It isn't a Hallmark-worthy scene by any means, but it's still the best thing Emma's seen since Henry opened his eyes in that hospital bed. And she knows that after they leave this place, everything will get buried in favor of the war still raging on. But she hopes that maybe they could have more of these moments, because suddenly giving Henry a good childhood (and god forbid she think it, being a family) doesn't seem that hard right now.

It's just like riding a bicycle. Now that they've learned how, they'll never forget.


End file.
